Community Cats

All About Community Cats

In 2002, IndyFeral was independently created as a means of changing the way stray and feral cats were viewed and handled in our community. Because of IndyFeral’s work, the care and treatment of stray, dumped, and feral cats has improved. In 2012, IndyFeral merged with FACE and became the community cat program at the clinic. Today, IndyFeral lives on in the work we do with community cats. It takes all of us working together to address the needs of outdoor cats.

Some consider stray/feral cats as pests, dangerous or a nuisance. As a result, these people think it is acceptable to harm them, ignore them by “letting nature take its course” or kill them. Some believe that feral cats lead short, miserable lives and should be killed for their own good and to protect them from any future hardship they may suffer.

FACE holds these views as cruel, inhumane and unacceptable. TNR is not an endorsement for abandoning cats. FACE believes that all living creatures, including community cats, have an intrinsic value. They deserve compassion, care and protection for their entire lives. All living creatures have a basic instinct to live and have the best life they can. We strive to improve their lives and promote ideals that reflect of a caring and humane community.

The Goal

Our goal is to reduce euthanasia for stray and feral cats that are trapped and brought to the city shelter. Feral cats are not socialized to people and are not adoption candidates. They also are not happy living indoors. Before the Community Cat program, the only option was to euthanize them. FACE’s Community Cat Program lets qualifying stray and feral cats to be returned to their outdoor homes. All cats are neutered, vaccinated and eartipped for identification. Neutering the cats not only leads to a smaller population, it also reduces the nuisance and mating behaviors that happen with unaltered cats. TNR education and enrollment is offered to people who are trapping and taking cats to Indianapolis Animal Care Services. This is a non-lethal alternative to the trapping and killing of the cats. For information about caring for outside cats, download our two page IndyFeral Community Cat Care Guidelines

What is a Community Cat? A Community Cat is a cat that has been fixed, vaccinated and eartipped then released back into the area from which it was captured. They are the unowned stray and feral (unsocialized) cats who live outdoors in our neighborhoods without a particular home or owner. Community cats may be temporarily brought inside a colony caretaker’s residence, for their protection, in the event of severe environmental conditions or medical necessity. If you are feeding outdoor cats (stray or feral) in Marion County, Indiana you are required by the city’s TNR ordinance to:

This segment of the cat population has been ignored too long and their numbers have exploded. Stray and feral cats produce 80% of the kittens that flood the shelters and rescues each Spring (ACA Feral cat clinic results). These cats and their offspring are the victims of abandonment (view our abandonment flyer) accidental loss or the result of pet owners who allow their intact cats to roam freely and breed unchecked.

Intake Drives Killing

The municipal shelters can’t save and support the huge number of accidental litters, stray and family cats brought to the shelter doors everyday. In the U.S. the most comprehensive data indicates that nearly 72% of cats that enter these facilities are killed. For feral cats, the kill rate in shelters and pounds rises to virtually 100% (Cat Fatalities and Secrecy in U.S pound and Shelters). Cats entering the shelter have only three possible outcomes: being adopted, reunited with an owner or killed. Yet feral cats or cats that arrive in a trap to the shelter are unsocialized to humans and can’t adjust to life in a human home as they have no traditional “owners” to claim them. For them, the only possible outcome is death.

The Solution

The solution is simple. Reduce cat intake in the shelters. Fewer cats means less killing.

How? You can help through Trap, Neuter, Return programs. Help us, help the cats. By humanely trapping stray and feral cats in your neighborhood you are taking a positive action instead of doing nothing. Your efforts are a step towards ending the cat overpopulation crisis in our city and improving their lives.

Support and utilize non-lethal cat programs like IndyFeral, FACE neighborhood Community Cat Package and the Low-cost clinic feral cat package for TNR and low-cost spay neuter services for all cats (U.S Public opinion of the humane treatment of stray cats).